US beats Russia, advances to world junior semis

U.S. goaltender Joseph Woll (31) makes a save as Russia forward German Rubtsov (17) is hit by U.S. forward Ryan Poehling (4) during the first period of a quarterfinal in the IIHF world junior hockey championships in Buffalo, N.Y., Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)AP | The Canadian Press

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Kieffer Bellows scored his second goal with 7:29 left in the third period and the United States defeated Russia 3-2 in a world junior quarterfinal on Tuesday night.

Kailer Yamamoto also had a goal, Joey Anderson added an empty-netter and Joseph Woll made 27 saves for the defending champion Americans, who will play Sweden in the semifinals on Thursday.

Sweden held on for a 3-2 quarterfinal win over Slovakia earlier in the day to remain unbeaten in the tournament.

Bellows, the New York Islanders’ first-round draft pick in 2016, skated into a slap shot for the winning goal. Dylan Samberg’s indirect pass of the end boards bounced back to meet Bellows at the left face-off circle.

The U.S. took a 1-0 lead on Bellows’ power-play goal 2:18 into the game. Marsel Sholokhov tied it for Russia before Yamamoto put back the rebound of his own shot to make it 2-1 late in the first period.

Andrei Altybarmakyan had the tying goal for Russia early in the third period. Vladislav Sukhachyov made 39 saves.

Isac Lundestrom scored two goals in Sweden’s victory. Fabian Zetterlund scored the other goal, making it 2-0 early in the second period. Martin Bodak had both goals for Slovakia. Roman Durny made 36 saves.

Brett Howden added a goal and two assists for Canada, which won Group A with three wins and a shootout loss. Cale Makar, Jordan Kyrou, Conor Timmins, Dillon Dube and Maxime Comtois also scored.

Canadian goalie Carter Hart stopped 12 shots for the win.

Filip Zadina scored twice in regulation for the Czech Republic, including the tying goal with 2:26 remaining in the third period. Reichel scored the other goal. Josef Korenar made 51 saves.

Aapeli Rasanen, Olli Juolevi and Kristian Vesalainen had goals for Finland. Vesalainen also had the only Finnish goal in the shootout. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 26 saves.

The Canadians beat the Czech Republic 9-0 on Dec. 20 in a pre-tournament exhibition game in London, Ontario. However, the Czechs didn’t put out their full roster and had just arrived in North America.

In the opener of a three-game relegation series, Andreas Grundtvig scored with 15 seconds left in the third period to lead Denmark to a 5-4 comeback victory over Belarus.